New York Education Department Promotes ‘Gender Queer’ Pornographic Book to Children

A boy wearing lgbt pride wings
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Alana Mastrangelo

**Warning: Graphic content**

The New York State Department of Education has promoted cartoonist Maia Kobabe’s book, Gender Queer: a Memoir, which reportedly features explicit drawings of teens performing oral sex, among other acts. In a statement, the Department of Education claimed it “was not aware of the graphic nature of the contents of the book, which is not apparent from its title.”

Librarian Lauren Moore promoted Kobabe’s phonographic book after the National Education Association’s Read Across America encouraged the New York State Department of Education to enlist librarians across the state to share their favorite books, according to a report by The Post Millennial.

In advocating for the book by Kobabe — who uses “e/em/eir” pronouns — Moore wrote that she is “grateful for books that let my kid know they’re not alone.”

The images in Gender Queer have reportedly angered parents, who were appalled to find graphic depictions of sex acts and apparent encouragement for children to question their gender identity.

One Twitter user shared explicit images from the book, as well as a purported email exchange she had with administrators from North Kingstown School Department, bringing the content to the school’s attention.

“Gender Queer is available in our library, is intended for a teenage and young adult audience, and in my opinion would be considered a valuable resource for someone who is working through issues of sexual identity and/or identifying as transgender,” an administrator wrote.

In the purported email, the administrator went on to insist that the content was not pornographic and compared Gender Queer to the work of Italian sculptor Michelangelo.

“[I]mages in a Playboy magazine would be considered pornographic, but a statue from Michelangelo, sexual images in an anatomy textbook, or sexual references in health class discussion or in many works of literature are not,” the administrator wrote.

“In this case, the intent of the author is to be concerned for the sexual health of those who are transgender, clearly not to be phonographic,” the administrator insisted.

Meanwhile, author and mathematician Dr. James Lindsay pointed out that when images from Queer Gender are uploaded to Instagram, they are removed by the site, which notes that the photos violate the platform’s Community Guidelines on “nudity or sexual activity.”

“Instagram agrees that the groomer book in our kids’ schools is pornographic,” Lindsay said.

In a statement to The Post Millennial, Emily DeSantis of the State Education Department (SED) said, “SED was not aware of the graphic nature of the contents of the book, which is not apparent from its title.”

“Once we became aware, we immediately removed the post,” she added. “SED is investigating the circumstances under which this title was selected and posted.”

The book is still promoted by the Manhattan Public Library as well as the New York Public Library, among dozens of others, according to The Post Millennial.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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